Tzatziki

Name: Tzatziki
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt; 1 cucumber, peeled and deseeded; 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 1 tablespoon fresh chopped mint or dill; 1 clove garlic, crushed (or more to taste); 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or more to taste); 1/4 teaspoon salt (or more to taste); Fresh mint sprig for garnish (optional)

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Tzatziki

Tzatziki is an awesome Middle Eastern mezze that compliments many dishes. It’s a fragrant and luscious dip/condiment/sauce. Tzatziki goes great with flatbread, pita bread, falafel and grilled veggies.

The secret to creating the perfect tzatziki texture is strained yogurt! Make sure you use fresh herbs and lemon juice. I like using the thin and small cucumbers in this dish because they have a nice flavor and they don’t have many seeds. Finally, if you’re a garlic friend you can totally add more than the recipe calls for.

This dish is vegetarian, gluten free, heart healthy, high protein, low carbohydrates, low fat, and totally delicious. Enjoy!

Other delicious dips worth trying are Roasted Tomato Salsa, Chipotle Roasted Tomato Salsa, Garlic Yogurt with Carrots, Muhammara, Houmous, Guacamole, Roasted Red PepperDip, Classic Basil Pesto, and Baba Ghanoush to name a few.

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Ingredients

1 ½ cups plain yogurt
1 peeled and deseeded cucumber
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh chopped mint or dill
1 minced clove garlic
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or more to taste)
Salt to Taste
Fresh mint sprig for garnish (optional)

Directions

Step-1

Strain the yogurt for 3-4 hours in the refrigerator.

Step-2

Pulse the cucumbers in the food processor or hand chop to desired texture. Bigger chunks will result in chunkier tzatziki. You can also grate them, if you prefer. Take a piece of cheesecloth/kitchen towel or dishtowel and fold into two layers. Place chopped cucumbers in the centre of the double-layered cloth. Gather up the cheesecloth and twist at the top to form a bundle. Squeeze the bundle several times over the sink, twisting the bundle tightly to get rid of as much liquid as possible.

Step-3

Place strained yogurt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the drained cucumber pieces from the cheesecloth to the bowl along with the olive oil, chopped fresh mint or dill, crushed garlic, lemon juice, and salt.

Step-4

Use a fork or whisk to blend the ingredients together. Taste the tzatziki; add more garlic, lemon juice, or salt to taste if desired. Serve cold. Store in the refrigerator.

Tips & Variations

The longer the garlic rests in the yogurt, the less sharp bite it will have and the better it will taste.
Make sure there is no water in the cucumber or else the dip will be watery.
Ideally you want to use a full fat yogurt not low-fat or fat-free. This will provide the creaminess, richness and flavour needed.
Traditionally, cow’s milk yogurt is used and not goat or sheep’s milk yogurt.
If you can substitute the mint with dill too.
You want to use a cucumber that does not have many seeds or large seeds. If it does have seeds, make sure you remove them. Also, you want to make sure you strain the grated cucumber.
Let it sit for at least an hour, ideally overnight for the flavour to meld.